CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND PERFORMANCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CREDIT COMMITTEE

Author(s): U. Joseph Nnanna

Research in corporate governance began with a pioneering book on Modern Corporation and private property published in 1932. Since the global financial crises of 2008 there have been numerous companies in the US such as Bear Stearns, Wachovia, and Countrywide who have either filed for bankruptcy and re-organized, merged with a stronger organization or even was acquired. Similarly, in the Nigerian economy the same fate plagued the banking industry. The purpose of this study was to critically examine banks in Nigeria and compare their management characteristics and corporate performance to similar banks in the US. The study focuses on the sample size of 50 commercial banks selected from Nigeria and the US. Furthermore, the researcher relied on the published annual data retrieved from the various websites of the sampled banks, African Financials.com website, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings for the banks in the study. The selected variables for the study are return on asset (ROA), board size, CEO duality, board independence, non - performing loans, ownership structure, and CEO experience. The time-frame of the study spanned from 2005-2009. Due to the quantitative nature of the study, an empirical analysis was done using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Finally, the findings of the study present mixed results among the aforementioned variables on corporate performance.

Author(s): J. D. Williams, Jessica Benner and Cody White

A strong corporate culture and effective marketing context-sensitive leadership have been known to individually drive performance of a firm. However, little research has been done in order to effectively link the two driving forces together. This study looked to do just that. By investigating this relationship, not only can we potentially see which types of leadership and cultures individually are most effective in driving firm performance, but which combinations of the two can be most effective in driving said performance.

THE INVESTIGATION OF BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN AN AUTOMOTIVE FIRM
Author(s): Bilgin Şenel and Mine Şenel

THE INVESTIGATION OF BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN AN AUTOMOTIVE FIRM

Author(s): Bilgin Şenel and Mine Şenel

The purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of being strategic, implementing total quality management, and adopting an aggressive or innovative strategy on the performance of an automotive firm (one of the leading ones in the Turkish automotive industry, in its factories located in Gebze and Inonu). Only the white collar employees were included within the study. Structural equation modeling was established following a reliable analysis, factor analysis and confirmatory analysis on the data. The study concluded that being strategic (Competitor Orientation, Technology Orientation and Customer Orientation) and implementing innovative strategies have a positive influence on the performance of the firm, but implementing Total Quality Management and adopting an aggressive strategy does not have a positive impact on the performance.

FORECASTS FOR THE CHINESE ECONOMY AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR AUSTRALIA
Author(s): David Fox, Noel Ross and Claudia Wee

FORECASTS FOR THE CHINESE ECONOMY AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR AUSTRALIA

Author(s): David Fox, Noel Ross and Claudia Wee

The authors believe that Chinese economic domination will take place sooner than most would expect. In this paper, forecasts for the size of the Chinese economy are made using a future value model of the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). A variety of scenarios are analysed, including the areas of investment and return, the impact of economic growth and the size and status of the Chinese economy. Assuming a growth differential between China and USA of 5% and using a future value model of GDP and PPP, China is forecast to have a larger economy than the USA before the year 2015. The best way to benefit from China's expansion has been to invest in those companies that provide the resources such as base metals and energy that have fuelled its growth rather than direct investment. As for Australia, China has gone from the Yellow Peril to the Red Locomotive creating a huge resource boom. It is reminiscent of the Japan-based boom of the 1960s. The greatest danger to Australia and resource companies is that the Chinese will be able to duplicate Japanese strategies and stimulate new resource projects that will cause a glut and bring down prices.

DYNAMIC ADAPTIVITY

Author(s): J. D. Williams

The newer forms of consultative selling require that salespersons take on the roles of a team leader, business consultant, and long-term ally. By performing these three roles the salesperson can reduce the relationship gap between he/her and the client, resulting in heightened customer satisfaction while doing business with the seller (Futrell, 2011). However, it has also been profusely clear that salespersons must be properly equip with up-to-date tools and training to effectively meet those hefty relationship selling goals. Previous research, in the area of sales relationship drivers, has shown the way towards building the right types of sales tools, but, are the previous relationship drivers sufficient? It is this author's contention that the classic eight primary sales relationship drivers, which have well served B2B salespersons for the past 8 to 10 years, need an additional element that will generate even more boost to their selling efforts for the 21st Century and that next element should be, Dynamic Adaptivity, a new concept and a new word for the Webster Dictionary.

OFFERING FUNCTIONAL DOCTORAL DEGREES:
RESULTS FROM TWO STUDIES

Author(s): Natalie Paul and M. O. Thirunarayanan

Not all individuals who pursue or wish to pursue a doctoral degree want to do research or seek tenure-track positions in colleges and universities. Many who hold doctoral degree are either already in careers outside of academia or will pursue such careers after graduation. Such departure from academia and research could indicate the possible need for changes in the doctoral degree. Thus, the idea of offering doctoral degrees along functional lines in addition to disciplinary ones has been proposed and should be explored. Tradition, changes in career preparation and the structure of the doctoral program are factors that provide a basis for whether functional doctoral degrees should be offered. The purpose of this study was to find out what graduate students' and faculty members' opinions were about the idea of offering functional doctoral degrees. Data from two surveys were collected and analyzed in this paper. The surveys were given to participants at two locations. One of these locations was at a conference in a large city outside of the United States and the other was at a large public university in a metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the United States. Participants filled out a ten item questionnaire after reading information about the idea of functional degrees. Frequency data was generated from two settings and the percentages of responses that agreed or disagreed with an item on the survey was compared and contrasted. Overall, the participants in both survey groups agreed with the idea of offering functional doctoral degrees, but still maintained that a dissertation should be completed.

MACRO AND MICROECONOMIC CONCEPT OF MONOPOLY IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Author(s): Joseph Cappa and Emad Rahim

MACRO AND MICROECONOMIC CONCEPT OF MONOPOLY IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Author(s): Joseph Cappa and Emad Rahim

The purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of the behaviors and characteristics of a firm in an unregulated monopoly industry. These behaviors and characteristics oftentimes help these firms maintain their market power. A monopoly firm attempts to achieve market dominance by controlling the market for its inputs and outputs (Adams & Brock, 1997). An unregulated monopoly is a closed economic system in which the economic welfare of the firm supersedes the economic welfare of society. An unregulated monopolistic firm or industry exists with limited or exempt status from sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act (Troesken, 2002). The behaviors of the firm toward price and quantity are unique in an unregulated monopoly industry.